Through the years with the tremendous expansion and interest in the guitar as a lead instrument in small groups and even with symphony orchestras there has been a comparable expansion in the use of the bass guitar as background. Most guitar players become, to a degree, proficient in the playing of both instruments. This necessitates the carrying of two instruments. The typical solution is for a group to include at least one guitar and one bass guitar player.
In the past there has been attempts to make double instruments. These are typified by the instruments described in the comprehensive book Guitars by Tom and Mary Anne Evans, copyright 1977, Paddington Press, Ltd., New York, N.Y. Disclosed there on page 163 is a nine string guitar employing six regular strings and three separate bass strings to allow playing of lute music. On page 165, a ten string guitar of Narcisco Yepes is disclosed. A double necked guitar of John McLaughlin is disclosed on page 429 of the Evans' "Guitars" book and in U.S. Pat. No. 1,183,369.
Typical of these devices is the fact that a virtually double size instrument requires a much larger neck or two necks and because of their general cumbersome nature have not been generally accepted. Other approaches employing a dual set of strings on different levels or boards have likewise not been generally accepted as practically playable by a professional player. Representative of these types of instruments are the instruments disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 469,548; 497,939; 3,392,618; 3,398,622 and 3,783,731.